US to Appeal Order Releasing 5-Year-Old Detained in Texas

The US Justice Department is appealing a federal judge’s order earlier this year that required immigration authorities to release a 5-year-old boy whose photo became a symbol of the Trump administration’s hardline policies.

A department lawyer notified US District Judge Fred Biery in a court filing Wednesday that the government will appeal his Jan. 31 decision, which also ordered the release of the boy’s father from immigration detention. The San Antonio-based judge issued a critical ruling at the time denouncing US officials’ “ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas.”